New Mantra for Flight Safety

The concept of Crew Resource Management is to train aviation professionals to prioritise and take action in high-stress, high-risk environment

Genesis in 1979, in the wake of certain findings and recommendations by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the concept of Crew Resource Management (CRM) is widely used today by airlines the world over to enhance air safety through improved performance of and coordination amongst members of the flight crew. NASA research had suggested that human error played a critical role in air crashes and the contributory factors were inadequacy of interpersonal communication as well as leadership and decision-making in the cockpit.

Data milked from Cockpit Voice Recorders retrieved after accidents indicated that more often than not, the cause of the disaster lay, not in technical failure or poor piloting skills per se, but in the lack of correct, coordinated and professional response by the crew to an extraordinary situation or unforeseen development. It was observed that lack of proper communication amongst the crew generally had deleterious effect on teamwork leading to degradation in the quality of decisions by the commander—a sure recipe for disaster.

Evolution of CRM

Based on this concept, in 1981, United Airlines initiated a training programme for its pilots then described as Cockpit Resource Management. Since then, CRM techniques have evolved considerably the world over to find wider application extending to personnel beyond the cockpit to those engaged in the operation of the aircraft, with common rationale for air safety. The changes came about after the realisation that in the conduct of flight operations, safety of the aircraft depended on pilots, air traffic controllers, flight dispatchers, cabin crew, maintenance personnel, push-back crew, ramp and aerobridge operators and marshallers. In the early 1990s, as CRM training was progressively extended to these groups, the nomenclature was modified to Crew Resource Management.

In India, CRM training is an essential part of annual refresher training for pilots and has been found to be useful. There is no absolutely standardised pattern of CRM training and airlines usually customise the programme to suit their specific or unique requirements. However, CRM is yet to find a niche in the operating philosophy of flying establishments other than those of airlines such as flying training institutions, business aviation, non-scheduled and private operators. The concept of CRM is not restricted to only multi-crew environment; it is equally applicable to single pilot operations that are required to mesh with other air traffic as also with the different ground support agencies while on a mission.

Analysis of investigation reports relating to accidents and incidents suggests that extending the concept of CRM to non-airline flying environment can help prevent or reduce the possibility of mishap. While accidents may occur in different environments and circumstances, the underlying cause factors that lead to accidents often are strikingly similar to those occurring in scheduled airlines.

The Concept Defined

The concept of CRM is to train aviation professionals to prioritise and take action in high-stress, high-risk environment based on span of responsibility, situational awareness, communication skills, problem solving, decision making, self discipline and teamwork. However, as the possibility of human error can never be totally eliminated, the thrust of CRM training is to develop countermeasures to manage human error.

This is achieved through improved synergy amongst the different agencies involved, bridging communication gaps, eliminating the possibility of errors, containing the effect of inadvertent errors as soon as they occur and controlling the adverse outcome of errors whose effects could not be contained. The objective is put a management system in place to optimise employment of human and material resources as also to harmonise procedures to enhance efficiency of flight operations with a positive impact on air safety. In the final analysis, the central theme of CRM is to raise assurance levels of getting high quality decisions in the management and conduct of flight operations.

Described in the succeeding paragraphs are episodes that highlight the need for CRM amongst personnel of different disciplines involved in the operation of aircraft.